Hot Holiday Apple Cider

This rosy cider simmers for just 10 minutes, making a great choice for drop-in visitors or last-minute parties. At Burchell's White Hill Farmhouse Inn in Minden, Nebraska, Bob and Linda Ard serve the drink with Christmas cookies.

Hot Buttered Rum and Spiced Pear Tea

Freeze a base of ice cream, butter, sugar and spices, then combine with rum and boiling water when you're ready to serve our Hot Buttered Rum. You can freeze the base for up to three months -- almost long enough to last through a Midwest winter!

Spiced Apple-Cranberry Cider and more

Warm up cold evenings in a flash when you serve these drinks hot from your microwave. Spiced Apple-Cranberry Cider combines cranberry-juice cocktail with apple cider or apple juice, cloves and cinnamon. Garnish with a skewer of cranberries, if you like.

Gluhwein (Hot Mulled Wine)

Udo Heinz from the Baum Wine Group in Bensenville, Illinois, says he fixes this German/Austrian specialty in the traditional Nuremberg way: hot, a bit sweet and spiced. We created both an adult and a nonalcoholic "Kinder" (kids') version using directions from Udo.